"I had cast my lot with a Soldier, and where he was was home to me." ~ Martha Summerhayes

29 March 2013

Let's Make This Awkward [Or, So long & thanks for all the fish]

You know it may have been a crazy few weeks if you're looking forward to an over-24-hour trip with two small kids because you'll get to sit down a lot. And because when you get there, at some point you just may have a long enough chunk of time where you don't have to use the car seat so you can actually wash (and hang dry, which takes all the time) the vaguely poopy car seat cover. Yes, the same car seat cover that will be gracing us with its presence in a metal tube hurtling through the sky far above the Pacific, Alaska, Canada, and finally the East Coast of the United STATES OF AMURRICCAAAA! Moving with 2.5 weeks' notice is no joke, and I may have cracked under the pressure.

I have to keep this short, because I'm supposed to be packing and I can't get caught sitting in front of the computer when a certain someone walks in.

So I'm going to go ahead and make it awkward and say a formal goodbye to our very special group of friends here in Okinawa. You have been generous with your hearts and homes, way more generous than us, in fact. I feel like I've been kind of overwhelmed and take-take-taking from people for at least the last year, and I don't believe in karma but this is better: in our world without karma, you all live the infinity of God's grace (and mercy, when I'm late to meet you for yet another time and you're still friends with me).

Thanks for the last three years: the friendships, the dinners, the playdates, the encouragement. And lately, thanks for the last-this-and-thats, the pictures you let me take, the patience, the handshakes and side hugs and real hugs, the emails and the presents and the cards and the dinners (everything feels so undeserved) and thanks for loving us and our kids so well.